The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of the Great Irish Famine of
1847 (3rd ed.) (1902), by John O'Rourke

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Title: The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 (3rd ed.) (1902)
With Notices Of Earlier Irish Famines

Author: John O'Rourke

Release Date: December 21, 2004 [EBook #14412]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREAT FAMINE ***

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Proofreading Team

THE HISTORY

OF THE

GREAT IRISH FAMINE

OF

1847,

WITH NOTICES OF EARLIER IRISH FAMINES.

BY THE

REV. JOHN O'ROURKE, P.P., M.R.I.A.

THIRD EDITION.

Dublin:

JAMES DUFFY AND CO., LTD.,

15 WELLINGTON QUAY.

1902.

[_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._]

TO

MY FELLOW COUNTRYMEN

THIS NARRATIVE

OF ONE OF THE MOST TERRIBLE EPISODES

IN THE CHEQUERED HISTORY

OF

OUR NATIVE LAND,

IS

RESPECTFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY

DEDICATED.

PREFACE.

The Author of this volume has, for a considerable time, been of opinion,
that the leading facts of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 ought to be put
together without unnecessary delay. Several reasons occurred to him why
such a work should be done: the magnitude of the Famine itself; the
peculiarity of its immediate cause; its influence on the destiny of the
Irish Race. That there should be no unnecessary delay in performing the
task was sufficiently proved, he thought, by the fact, that testimony of
the most valuable kind, namely, contemporary testimony, was silently but
rapidly passing away with the generation that had witnessed the Scourge.

Having made up his mind to undertake such a work, the Author's first
preparation for it was, to send query sheets to such persons as were
supposed to be in possession of information on the subject. And he has
here to express his gratitude and thanks to his numerous correspondents,
for the kindness and promptness with which his queries were answered.
He cannot recall even one case in which this was not done. But there is
a dark side to the picture too. In looking over the query sheets now, it
is sad